Carolan Ivey

On first sniff, this made me smile. The first word that sprang to mind was "beach!" A little ocean, a lot of sunny tropical floral, a touch of suntan oil. After a while it dries to a jasmine/hibiscus white floral with an aquatic touch. I like it a lot.

Orange blossom is hands-down my favorite floral scent of all time, so I jumped on this as soon as I saw orange blossom listed first in its description. Wet: On me it starts out eye-watering lemon pledge. I was hoping for the fresh lemon/herbal scent of the balm. Dry: It softens quite a bit on dry-down but I'm not getting any orange blossom. It's a softer version of lemon pledge with a touch of clove. After one hour: Nope. Going all chemical-y on my skin. Off to the swap/sell box.

To me, this is a much more wearable version of Bayou. Whereas Bayou turns out thick and cloying on me, Crossroads is Bayou-lite. Much softer, and I feel like I can breathe when I'm wearing it. Still, I have to be in the mood to wear such an overtly floral scent. I get mostly rose and jasmine with some moss.

I tend to amp vanilla, which isn't my favorite. I had hopes that with all the other notes listed, the vanilla wouldn't barge to the front, but it did. On me it dries down to a powdery vanilla, so with regret this decant will go in the sell/give-away pile.

I just got this as a decant from someone else. Wet, it smells exactly like the almond spritz butter cookies I bake for Christmas every year. Eventually it dries down to a honey-oatmeal scent. If you like foodie/cookie/bakery scents, you'll like this.

Like a number of BPAL scents on me, this starts out like "Oh, jeez, what did I just put on my skin?", which gradually changes to "Ooooh, this is niiiice!" On my skin, it starts out sharp and pungent, almost peppery. Gradually it softens as it dries, until it truly smells like a pile of dried autumn leaves into which a few sprigs of lavender have been tossed. Just enough to take the dusty edge off the dried leaves. It reminds me of a good, mild pipe tobacco still in the bag. I'd call this a unisex scent. It'll probably morph masculine or feminine depending on who's wearing it.

I got a decant of this based on the cool name and label art, crossing my fingers that the vetiver wouldn't overpower the sea/aquatic notes. I'm happy to share that the vetiver stays far enough in the background that I'm not compelled to immediately relegate the decant to the "sell or give away" pile. (Vetiver is usually one of my death notes) I smell kelp and driftwood and moss, and a surprising freshness I didn't expect. On my skin I pick up a hint of evergreen. Overall, it might be a tad too masculine for me, but I do enjoy the scent on my skin. The longer it sits on my skin the more I smell the driftwood and fresh sea air. It's quite nice. I think I'll keep it.

For me, this was smoky incense while wet on the skin. Now that it's dry it's straight-up pipe tobacco with a hint of sweet vanilla and maybe a wisp of Nag Champa. Not what I expected, but it's quite nice and I'll wear it again.

I agree with Lycanthrope. This starts out as a fresh, sunny cut-grass scent. On me the grass fades into a soft, contemplative floral that lies close to the skin - there's not much throw, at least not for me. I'd love this for meditation; it's very calming. For some reason I though it would be great to wear when camping...and I haven't been camping in years!

This one started out smelling like a just-opened box of lemon creme cookies, which was quite pleasant. A few minutes later though, my skin reacted with something - maybe the anise? - and I was racing to wash it off. I've never tried any BPALs with anise before, so I'm thinking that's something I should stay away from in the future. With regret, into the sell/trade/giveaway box. :/